Combustion turbines bring in fresh ambient air, mix the fresh ambient air with fuel in a combustion chamber, and ignite the air-fuel mixture. This produces a high-temperature and high-pressure flow of exhaust gases that produce the shaft work output that is generally used to move an electric generator. The fresh ambient air is typically brought in through an inlet housing structure that may include one or more filters and/or other components.
The performance of the combustion turbine is dependent on the conditions of the air that is mixed with the fuel in the combustion turbine. For example, the amount of fuel that can be contained in an air-fuel mixture is dependent on the density of the air, which in turn is dependent on relative humidity, altitude, pressure drop, and temperature.
Fogging is utilized in some combustion turbine installations to reduce the temperature of air supplied to the combustion turbine. Generally, fogging supplies liquid (e.g., water) to an array of fogging nozzles located upstream of the turbine compressor blades. The fogging array introduces a spray of the water to thereby reduce inlet air temperature. The fogging array may be positioned, for example, in the inlet housing structure. For instance, the fogging array may be positioned downstream of the filter stage in the inlet housing structure. In some implementations, to reduce the amount of moisture that reaches the combustion turbine, condensers and/or other moisture eliminators may be provided downstream of the fogging array, but upstream of the combustion turbine.